Bobrovsky: There was 'no chance' I'd sign extension with Blue Jackets

Sergei Bobrovsky is making it clear he never intended to re-up with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"There was no chance I'd sign an extension with (them)," the Florida Panthers goaltender told Russian outlet Sport24's Daria Tuboltseva, as translated by Sport-Express' Igor Eronko. "I felt I need (a change of) scenery. And it's not just because of tensions with the Jackets."

Bobrovsky signed a seven-year contract with the Panthers on July 1 following a season with Columbus in which he wasn't named the team's starter on opening night and was forced by the club to sit out a game after being pulled in January.

"I was suspended by the team, there were some conflicts in the team, a lot of meetings and some of them just because of me," Bobrovsky told Tuboltseva on Wednesday, according to Eronko. "I didn't feel myself comfortable. And still, the Jackets tried and tried to extend me all season long."

The two-time Vezina Trophy winner added that the team offered him a psychologist, which he described as "weird" because he's been going to one since he was 21.

Bobrovsky spent the last seven campaigns with the Blue Jackets after playing his first two NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.

The netminder, who'll turn 31 in September, signed with Florida as an unrestricted free agent for a reported $70 million.

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